Creating a Home Library: Books, Silence and a Good Armchair

What makes a home library

A home library is not a room with many shelves. It is a place where books are visible, ordered and within reach, and where you settle down to read. The bookcase is the archive; the armchair is the real reason for the room.

Many people have books scattered all over the apartment: in the living room, in the corridor, in the bedroom, in boxes in the cellar. A library gathers them. That has a practical effect, because you can find what you are looking for again. And it has an atmospheric effect: a wall of books is one of the warmest surfaces an apartment can have.

A bookcase says more about its residents than any other piece of furniture. It is the most honest portrait a room can show.

What scattered books cost. Books in boxes, on the floor and in three rooms are books you stop reading. The pile grows, the favourite you wanted is nowhere, and the evening ends in bed with the same paperback. Shelves that sag are also hard to put right later.

If you have no room of your own, you can also integrate a library into other rooms: as a bookcase wall in the living room, as shelving along a wide corridor, or around a door. How the living room benefits when the television is not the focal point is described in the article furnishing a living room without a TV wall. Whichever place you choose, the bookcase decides everything.

The made-to-measure bookcase: depths, heights, spans

Books are heavy and come in different sizes. A shelf that ignores this sags, wastes space or looks restless. That is why we plan a bookcase around what goes into it.

Shelf depths

Most novels and non-fiction fit within a shelf depth of about 22 to 25 centimetres. Large-format picture books, art books and atlases need more like 30 to 35 centimetres. We often plan a deeper lower zone for large formats with slimmer shelves above. This gives the bookcase a calm base and saves room depth higher up.

Shelf heights

Paperbacks need about 20 centimetres of clear height, ordinary hardbacks about 25 to 28 centimetres, large formats 35 centimetres and more. Adjustable shelves make sense because a collection changes. A grid of hole rows allows shelves to be adjusted later without the bookcase looking restless.

Spans

A shelf full of books carries a considerable load. How far it may span without visibly bending depends on material, thickness and construction. As a guide, with usual board thicknesses we rarely plan shelf widths beyond 80 to 90 centimetres. Anyone who wants wider shelves needs thicker boards, a concealed reinforcement or solid wood of sufficient cross-section. We agree this in detail with the workshop.

Bookcases in the Viennese Altbau

Altbau rooms are ideal for libraries. The high ceilings allow shelving of over three metres, the walls are thick and load-bearing, and the proportions give the room a dignity that suits books. At the same time, the Altbau brings its own questions.

The walls are rarely straight. A made-to-measure bookcase is therefore fitted with scribed filler panels at wall and ceiling so that no gaps remain. The fixing must carry the weight safely into the wall. With brick walls this is usually unproblematic; with lightweight partitions or cavities we check the fixing points carefully.

The floor deserves a look as well. A floor-to-ceiling bookcase several metres long puts a considerable load on the area along one wall. In Altbau buildings with timber-beam ceilings it can make sense to check the load capacity beforehand. If necessary we clarify this with a structural engineer before the planning is fixed.

The top shelves need a ladder. A library ladder on a rail is practical and beautiful, but it needs a continuous rail and some space in front of the shelves. Alternatively we plan a free-standing step ladder with a fixed place.

How the bookcase is built, as a made-to-measure built-in or as a system, depends on the room. We answer the basic question under made-to-measure fitted wardrobe or modular system. Examples of built-ins from our own workshop Tischlerkultur, working in the Viennese tradition since 1935, can be found on the page about fitted wardrobes. What the bookcase is made of shapes the whole room.

Material: wood, lacquer or both

Wood is especially suitable for bookcases. It takes up the warm effect of the book spines and can be worked precisely. Veneered boards are dimensionally stable and allow large surfaces with continuous grain. Solid wood is used where edges are heavily stressed or shelves must be particularly load-bearing. We explain the differences honestly in the article veneer or solid wood.

A lacquered bookcase in a calm tone steps back and lets the books speak. A wall in dark wood, such as walnut or smoked oak, creates a classic, collected atmosphere. Which timber species age in which way is covered under real wood in interior fit-out.

In our example, Ms K. chooses oak in a warm tone, combined with a lacquered back panel in muted green. The books thus get a backdrop, while the wall remains light enough for a room with only one north-facing window. Imagine the evening light on the green wall and the oak, the spines glowing in a row. Next, the light you read by.

Reading light: warm, directed and glare-free

Reading needs good light. Good light for reading means: bright enough on the page, not dazzling, warm enough to stay relaxed. A single ceiling light does not achieve that.

A reading spot needs a lamp of its own, falling on the page from the side and slightly from behind. A floor lamp with an adjustable arm or a wall lamp next to the armchair works well. The colour temperature should be warm, around 2,700 kelvin, so the room stays calm in the evening. Anyone who reads a lot values good colour rendering, because paper and print then look natural.

The bookcase itself can be lit, for example by slim fittings at the shelf edges or by light that grazes the book spines from above. It is important that this light does not fall in the eyes and that it can be switched separately. Late in the evening the reading light alone is often enough. You will find the basics under lighting design for the home, and examples of lamps as part of a concept in the article on luminaires in lighting design.

The reading chair, the light and the window form a triangle. When that triangle is right, the room is right.

The armchair: where a library begins

The armchair is the most important piece of furniture in the library. It must support the back without being stiff, and be deep enough that you can pull your legs up or put them on a footstool. Armrests carry the arms when the book gets heavy. A small side table for cup and glasses belongs with it.

Armchairs should be tried out, and for longer than two minutes. A seat height between about 40 and 45 centimetres is comfortable for most people, and the seat depth should match the length of the thigh. Good upholstered furniture can be both comfortable and architectural. How an upholstered piece organises a room is described in the article Why a sofa plans the room.

Where the armchair stands is as important as which one it is. Ideally with daylight from the side, looking into the room or outside, not with its back to the door. Anyone who likes to read by the window can plan an upholstered window seat, in an Altbau often with storage underneath. With the chair and the light in place, only one thing is missing from the room: quiet.

Acoustics and silence

Books are excellent acoustic elements. A full bookcase breaks up and absorbs sound, because the book spines are irregular and paper takes up sound. Many libraries therefore sound calm without anything having to be done.

It still helps to complete the rest of the room: a rug on the parquet, curtains at the window, an upholstered armchair. If you live on a noisy street, heavy curtains and well-sealing windows help. More about the effect of fabrics in a room can be found under textiles: curtains, rugs and acoustics.

A library can also be a workplace. A desk built into the bookcase combines reading and writing. How to plan such a spot without it looking like an office is described in the article on the home office in an apartment.

Imagine the finished room on a rainy Sunday: the rain behind the heavy curtain, the lamp warm on the page, the house gone quiet. That is what the six steps below are for.

Six steps to your own library

1. Count or measure your books: How many linear metres of books do you own, and how many will be added in ten years? Allow a reserve.
2. Sort by format: What share is paperbacks, hardbacks, picture books? This gives you shelf depths and heights.
3. Choose the place: a room of its own, a living-room wall, a corridor or the bedroom. Daylight and quiet matter more than floor area.
4. Check the load capacity: assess wall and floor for the load, in an Altbau with a structural engineer if needed.
5. Plan the light: provide reading light, shelf lighting and general light that can be switched separately.
6. Choose the armchair: try it out and fix a spot with light from the side.